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A team of FAB-MOVErs led by Richard Pfeilstetter (US) has recently presented the project at the „2nd Ibero-American Conference of Social Economy“ that was held in Osuna, Andalusia, from 4th to 8th June. In front of a diverse audience made up of university members, public authorities and social entrepreneurs, Richard shared the FAB-MOVE slot with Antonia Avalos (MS) and Olga Biosca (GCU) who is spending her secondment in Seville at the moment. The photo shows them with Itziar Gomez and Cristina Jurado from the US-Team. The FAB-MOVE researchers all participated in a debate about the role of social economy in achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) and shared their experiences with successful initiatives operating in the Ibero-American region.

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Benedikt Pahl (WWU) has just sent us this photograph after returning to the second part of his split secondment at FAB-MOVE partner Mujeres Supervivientes (MS) in Seville. During his month-long stay, he supported the ongoing projects of the non-profit organisation and assisted in its weekly held soup kitchen. In collaboration with the members of MS, Benedikt also started the first preparations for the Final FAB-MOVE Event that will take place in Seville on 15th/16th November this year.

Once again, Danielle Gluns (WWU) has spent another month joining the activities of our FAB-MOVE partner in Italy, the Impact Hub Siracusa. One of the reasons for her stay was to study the interaction between public institutions and the Third Sector regarding the admission and integration of refugees in Sicily. She therefore has interviewed representatives of different social organisations to use the outcome for publications, presentations and further projects together with her local colleagues. Besides, Danielle could impart her knowledge of social entrepreneurship to groups of pupils visiting the Hub as seen in the photo.

On 23rd January, FAB-MOVE researcher Didier Chabanet (Sciences Po) has started his two-month secondment at the FAB-MOVE partner institution Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he will stay until the end of March. Didier has recently sent us this picture showing him in front of the local "BMW Center for German and European Studies" which serves as a Hub for research, teaching and event programming with special focus on Europe and the transatlantic relations.

Ruth Simsa (WU) recently gave a lecture at the University of Seville, following the invitation of her FAB-MOVE colleague Richard Pfeilstetter (US). In her presentation, the Austrian researcher critically discussed different perspectives of social entrepreneurship with special regard to its implications on the Third Sector in Spain and Austria. Ruth additionally presented a few results of the FAB-MOVE project, aiming to analyze and compare the situation of European social entrepreneurs in different national contexts.

Stephanie Dziuba-Kaiser (WWU) has successfully concluded her three-month secondment to the University of San Andrés (UdeSA), Buenos Aires. During her stay, Stephanie explored the conditions of civil society participation within the framework of regional organisations with a special emphasis on sexual and reproductive health issues. She met with local practitioners and researchers and attended two regional conferences in Buenos Aires and Montevideo. Moreover, she used the opportunity to discover the political past and present and - at times - the beauty of Argentina.

The „VI. International Research Conference on Social and Solidarity Economy“ took place at the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM) in Manaus, Brazil, from 29th November to 2nd December with the two FAB-MOVE researchers Simone Baglioni (GCU) and Didier Chabanet (Sciences Po) among its participants. During several panels and presentations Simone and Didier reported on how social innovation and social enterprises are experienced in Europe. They pointed out differences in the European conceptualisation and understanding of the social economy compared to Latin-American countries and answered the audience‘s questions about governmental interests in supporting social enterprises or academic programs devoted to social and political studies. Didier finally stated: „Apart from the round-table as such, we made lots of new acquaintances and of course this was a good occasion for us to talk about FAB-MOVE.“

Among policy makers from diverse political perspectives all over the world, social impact bonds (SIBs) are being met with increasing enthusiasm for their potential to transform the provision of social services. Being seconded to the University of San Andrés (UdeSA), Neil McHugh (GCU) held a seminar on this emerging topic, reflecting on possible side effects of SIBs. His presentation, that drew on a collaboration with FAB-MOVErs Stephen Sinclair and Michael Roy, gave an overview of unintended consequences, the evaluation challenges SIBs pose, as well as the inevitable commodification of service users. Not only academics and students, but people from management areas of the public sector, nonprofit organisations or government representatives used the opportunity to inform themselves due to initial talks about introducing SIBs in Buenos Aires.

The International Society for Third-Sector Research (ISTR) hosted its "11th Latin American & the Caribbean Network Conference" at the Universidad de los Hemisferios and the Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar in Quito, Ecuador, from 18th to 20th October. FAB-MOVE was altogether represented there by researchers Annette Zimmer (WWU), Mariana Lomé (UdeSA) and Ruth Simsa (WU), who provided an insight into the project's preliminary results focussing on Latin America and Spain within the scope of an academic panel.

Salvatore Fallica (IHS) has just returned from his four-week secondment to the Southern Denmark University (SDU). He spent an intense month of knowledge exchange, lectures and travels around Skandinavian universities, incubators and social enterprises under the excellent coordination of Professor Thomas Persson. Salvatore retrospectively evaluates his stay as a fundamental experience that marks the beginning of stronger collaborations between actors or social innovation ecosystems from Skandinavia to Sicily.

Danielle Gluns (WWU) is currently seconded to the Impact Hub Siracusa, Sicily, where she is discussing the activities and structures of social enterprises in Italy. Aiming to mitigate the negative effects of economic crises and stagnation on youth unemployment, the foundation of social enterprises by young people is explicitly supported there. One of several projects, "Bassi Communicati" in Ragusa, provides counselling for young founders to develop their ideas and improve the sustainability of their enterprises. This picture shows Danielle participating in an exchange between the future founders and established entrepreneurs, asking critical questions and providing advice.

As part of his FAB-MOVE secondment to the Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU), Yuval Dror (Minga) attended the annual Scottish conference "Social Enterprise Policy and Practice" hosted and organised by the social enterprise support agency CEIS in Glasgow on 6th September. Refering to the rise of digital technology and its opportunities in the development of social enterprises, Yuval presented numerous examples of different social tech initiatives and selected start-ups in Israel.

Danielle Gluns and Katharina Obuch (WWU) recently attended the "Conference of the European Consortium for Political Research" (ECPR) that took place in the Norwegian capital from 6th to 9th September. During a panel sponsored by the American Political Science Association (APSA) on the transition of welfare states evaluated from a comparative perspective, the two German researchers presented the previous results of the FAB-MOVE project in the course of their speech "For a Better Tomorrow? Social Enterprises in Different Welfare States under Scrutiny".

Richard Pfeilstetter (US) has just sent us this collage, showing some impressions of his secondment to the Impact Hub Berlin. Besides the exchange of experiences concerning the multiple contexts of social enterprises in Spain and Germany, Richard joined several social events, including amongst others the "Pitch Drive", a presentation of 14 top start-ups from Africa. Additionally, he visited the "ART CRU Berlin", the first local gallery exhibiting art created by disabled people as well as the "Theater-Werkstatt Thikwa", a workshop for people with disabilities offering various options for artistic professionalisation. "Due to my participation in the FAB-MOVE project", Richard finally stated, "I am gaining a growing comparative understanding of social enterprises all across Europe!"

Antonia Avalos Torres and Amanda Conde, both members of the non-profit organisation Mujeres Supervivientes (MS) from Sevilla, successfully concluded their month-long secondments to the University of San Andrés (UdeSA) in Buenos Aires. Their short stay will leave a long-lasting impression, since Antonia and Amanda used the opportunity to present the impact of the FAB-MOVE project as well as the work of their organisation in Spain during a radio interview with "Radio Sur". In addition, they got in touch with several women's rights organisations and the team of UdeSA, seeking exchange of ideas and experiences.

Totò Biazzo, member of the Impact Hub Siracusa in Sicily, is currently seconded to the Trisakti University in Jakarta, Indonesia. On 1st August, he gave a presentation on social enterprises in Italy and the manifold activities of the Impact Hub in supporting these enterprises and their social or ecological missions. The secondment will help both partners to gain insights into the conditions for and activities of social enterprises in two completely different contexts. Moreover, it will foster the exchange between research and practice.

Olga Biosca (GCU) has recently reported on her experience while visiting the University of San Andrés in Buenos Aires for research purposes on Argentinian forms of social enterprises. Apart from discussing the subject of microfinance in the UK and Argentina, she also had the chance to access different case studies on that topic. "This was excellent preparation!", Olga concluded, as she finally appeared as one of four keynote speakers at the "4th Ibero-American Conference of Development Studies" held at Quilmes University. In the context of debating new perspectives for human and sustainable development, Olga pointed out the potential of social enterprise and microfinance to enhance health and wellbeing.

Nele Kapretz (IHB) has just sent us this picture giving a small impression from her workshop on social entrepreneurship, pitching and design thinking at the College of Management (COMAS) in Israel to which Nele had been seconded via FAB-MOVE. Nele reported: "It was great fun and the students were very eager to learn. Thank you to everyone who helped make it happen!"

A partial reunion after the Mid-Term meeting has taken place for several FAB-MOVErs in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, where they met for the "6th EMES International Research Conference on Social Enterprise" and presented their research in the course of the FAB-MOVE project. Among the speakers were Tiziana Crisipino (UNICAL), Francesca Caló (GCU), Ben Gidron (COMAS) as well as Katharina Obuch and Benedikt Pahl (WWU). This provided an excellent opportunity to foster the FAB-MOVE "spirit” and to exchange further ideas on the project.

Carolin Schönert (WWU) has successfully concluded her secondment to FAB-MOVE partner Inverclyde Community Development Trust (ICDT) in Greenock, Scotland. She explored the conditions, innovations and challenges of social enterprises in a liberal welfare state. In particular, Carolin examined the sectoral change from an industrial base to a service society through extensive discussions with practitioners. In this regard, she was also able to fruitfully combine her new insights with the work of another EU-funded project InnoSI.

Yoram Lavi (MINGA) has made his trip back to Israel with a wide range of new experiences and insights after his secondment to the University of Calabria (UNICAL) in Italy. One of his key insights was: "The term of 'Social Business' is not 100% understandable and clear to all due to the old existing organizations and sometimes due to lack of clear definition and measurements." Yoram participated in the university's life and activities, for example, by offering a workshop on "How political agenda can help to nurture a new market like the one of social entrepreneurs", thereby commenting on the Israeli experience with social entrepreneurship and engaging in discussions with students.

Spanish-South-American FAB-MOVE collaboration in Spain: Maida Pieper from the University of San Andrés (UdeSA) and Richard Pfeilstetter from the University of Seville (US) have visited the Secreteriat for Knowledge Transfer and Entrepreneurship at US. Richard Pfeilstetter reports: "We have met with the director Miguel Torres and Concha Rodríguez in order to exchange experiences of the entrepreneurial management at universities."

Ruth Simsa, a FAB-MOVE researcher from the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU) who has already been seconded to Spain via the project, has presented her paper “Social entrepreneurship in relation to the Business, the Nonprofit and the Public Sector” to the audience at the "2nd Business and Entrepreneurial Economics Conference" in Croatia. Thereby, she also drew on insights and perspectives of the FAB-MOVE project in one slide.

Danielle Gluns from the University of Muenster (WWU) has sent us some information on her current secondment to Italy. Here is what she experienced: “I am member of Annette Zimmer’s team at Muenster University and I am currently seconded to the Impact Hub in Siracuse, Sicily. I am discussing forms of and framework conditions for social enterprises in Italy and Germany, researching and visiting different types of social enterprises as well as catching up on the various activities of the Impact Hub.”

Yesterday, FAB-MOVE partner Impact Hub Siracusa hosted a workshop within the projects’ framework, entitled “Microfinance, Integration and Muslim Community in Sicily”. Rosario Sapienza, IHS president and co-founder, sent the following description: “The path of the integration of Muslims in Italy is not only the religious-cultural one that marks the demands of equality that the Muslims advance on their journey from a minority to the same with the largest Italian citizenship. It also crosses broader thematic areas and categories considering that Muslims are also the many immigrants who seek full integration into new communities, whether they are economic, by integrating into the labor market that follows the rhythm driven by socio-economic mobility or more politically, through integration into the community of citizens.”
Among the discussants were e.g. Manlio Cinalli (Sciences Po, Paris), who has been seconded twice within the FAB-MOVE project, as well as Simone Piceno and Rosario Sapienza, both from Impact Hub Siracusa. More details on the event are available here.

Maria Olivella Rizza, seconded to FAB-MOVE partner Inverclyde Community Development Trust (ICDT) for three months, has published a post on the Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) weblog. In the article entitled “From Sicily to Scotland: Social Enterprise and the Mafia”, the researcher from the University of Catania (UNICT) presents her research on "Libera Terra", a project aiming at “creating job opportunities in the land and property confiscated from the Mafia”, as she writes. You can read the full article here.

Last week, a common effort of three FAB-MOVE partners has enabled a workshop for graduate students on problems and solutions of social enterprises in Europe. At the University of Seville (US), Paul Bristow, currently visiting US in the course of his secondment, presented his work at Inverclyde Community Development Trust (ICDT) in Greenock, Scotland. Antonia Avalos Torres talked about challenges her organisation Mujeres Supervivientes de Violencias de Género (MS) currently faces. The FAB-MOVE project was introduced to the participants by Richard Pfeilstetter from the University of Seville (US). Drawing on experiences gained from his recent secondment to Gabarage Upcycling Design (GUD) in Vienna, he discussed the current situation of Spanish and Austrian social enterprises and welfare regimes.

Tiziana Crispino from FAB-MOVE partner University of Calabria (UNICAL) has successfully concluded her three-month secondment to the Scottish hosting institution Inverclyde Community Development Trust (ICDT). During her stay, Tiziana met with local practitioners and explored a wide array of local projects, thus grasping an understanding of the ICDT’s work as well as of the social enterprise sector in Scotland. Moreover, she has been interviewed for a blog post by the FAB-MOVE partner Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) which is accessible here.

FAB-MOVE has been present at the conference “Civil Society and the Welfare State” in Muenster four times: Coordinator Annette Zimmer, Project Manager Katharina Obuch and Student Assistant Christina Grabbe (all WWU Muenster) have presented their research findings on the welfare state and social enterprises in Germany. For the FAB-MOVE team it was moreover a great pleasure to host Salvo Fallica (Impact Hub Syracusa, Italy) who presented the Hub at the conference. Salvatore has just finished his two-months secondment to WWU Muenster. During his stay, he discussed social innovation and enterprises in Italy and Germany with researchers from the university as well as with several practitioners.

During her two-month secondment to the University of San Andrés (UdeSA) in Buenos Aires, Ilona Matysiak from Warsaw University presented her findings on the Third Sector and social economy in Poland to the Argentinian audience. The research seminar, held in Spanish, aimed at facilitating discussions on commonalities and differences between Poland and Argentina. This output from Ilona’s research has been accompanied by several discussions with staff members and practitioners in Argentina and by her participation in numerous case studies.

Danny Raveh from FAB-MOVE partner Impact Investing Israel (III) has successfully started his secondment to Muenster University. His one-month stay in Germany aims at discovering the broad range of the field of social enterprises in Germany and comparing the political and economic environment of SEs to the situation in Israel. Thereby, he met FAB-MOVE project manager Katharina Obuch and research assistant Mats Ahrenshop as well as other staff members of the Institute of Political Science.

Thomas Persson from Syddansk University (SDU), Denmark, who was seconded to COOMPANION in Sweden this year, is going to travel to Sweden once again as he has been invited as a discussant in the annual "Social Innovation Summit" in Malmö. Under the title “Take the temperature on research: What do we know in Sweden?” the seminar will specifically focus on the state of the art in Sweden and provide an overview of ongoing research projects. For further information on the event, which will take place on 26th October, click here.

On 3rd October, FAB-MOVE and INCAE Business School (Costa Rica) have presented and discussed their results of research on entrepreneurial ecosystems and sustainable standards for social entrepreneurs in a comparative perspective. Thomas Dietz, WP 3 leader of FAB-MOVE from Muenster University, whose secondment to INCAE comes to an end in the middle of October and Urs Jaeger from INCAE have, along with the PhD students Janina Grabs and Andrea Estrella, provided a forum for discussions on the results of their analysis.

¡Viva FAB-MOVE! Richard Pfeilstetter (US), seconded to Gabarage Upcycling Design (GUD), and Antonia Avalos Torres (MS), seconded to the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU), have sent some photographs as an inspiring completion of their secondments. They took advantage of the opportunity to meet Ruth Simsa, Hanna Schneider and further staff members of WU to discuss and explore current developments of social enterprises, e.g. at the local center of competence for NPOs and SEs. What an awesome coincidence that they also met Andrea Walter (WWU) during her secondment to GUD!

PhD students Christiane Bomert (WWU) and Francesca Calò (GCU) are currently seconded to the FAB-MOVE partner institution Georgetown University in Washington D.C. Apart from individually doing research on their dissertations, the two seconded researchers had the opportunity to meet and discuss current developments in the realm of social enterprises – and, at times, discover the U.S. capital. They will stay until October.

As part of his secondment to FAB-MOVE coordinator Muenster University, Ross Ahlfeld from the Invercylde Community Development Trust in Scotland gave an exciting talk on the aims, principles and functioning of his institution. This created an inspiring opportunity to bring together researchers from the university and the practitioner’s point of view. Thus, the comparison of the social enterprise environment in Scotland and Germany was one of the key aspects in the subsequent discussion. Ross Ahlfeld will stay in Germany until September. He has hitherto visited several social enterprises and other projects in the region of North Rine-Westphalia.

We are happy to announce that FAB-MOVE is supporting the seminar “Social Enterprises in Europe and the USA” which will be held by Aimable-André Dufatanye (AEH) and Francesca Calò (GCU). Both are currently seconded to Georgetown University (GU) in Washington and have organised the seminar, that will take place on Monday, 29th August from 10:00am-12:00pm. The seminar aims at elaborating the concept of social enterprises in different cultural, political and economic contexts, including comparative perspectives from France, Italy, the UK and USA. You can register here.

Dr. Stephen Sinclair from Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) is currently seconded to the FAB MOVE partner University of the Western Cape (UWC) and has written a short article for the social innovation blog of Yunus Centre about his FAB-MOVE secondment. Stephen has done a lot of fascinating activities as the blog entry shows. Get access to the article here.

At the invitation of Sarah-Ann Arnold (MTN Solution Space Manager), Dr. Stephen Sinclair (GCU) visited Philippi Village, a satellite campus of the University of Cape Town’s Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship on 11th August. Philippi Village is a community business facility, providing space and support for social and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in a reclaimed factory site on the outskirts of Cape Town. The Village is a social innovation itself and hosts several social enterprises, including Harambee, an employment recruitment and training initiative which integrates marginalised young people in the mainstream economy. Dr. Sinclair toured the facility and discussed UCT’s MPhil programme in Inclusive Innovation which is partly delivered on the new Philippi Village campus.

We are pleased to welcome Yaala Shar Braver from our FAB-MOVE partner MINGA in Israel to her one-month secondment to the FAB-MOVE coordinator WWU. Accompanied by her colleague Anat Maor, Yaala placed the exchange with researchers from the WWU about social enterprises in Germany at the centre of her secondment. Besides, there is the possibility of networking with social enterprises in Berlin. As a part of the global Impact HUB network, MINGA provides training, acceleration programs and a social enterprise infrastructure by collaborating with social entrepreneurs and organizations.

FAB-MOVE partners move and meet all around the world. As a recent evidence, Andrea Walter from Muenster University sent us this photograph portraying her alongside Victoria Kadernoschka from the hosting institution Gabarage Upcycling Design (GUD) and Richard Pfeilstetter, who is currently seconded to GUD as well. They had the opportunity to explore and discuss recent developments in the realm of social innovation, particularly by comparing Austria and Germany.

Stephen Sinclair from Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) has just flown over to South Africa in order to spend his one-and-a-half months secondment at the FAB-MOVE partner University of Western Cape (UWC). For the time being seconded, Stephen will attend various events about social innovation and meet representatives of several institutions to discuss the social enterprise sector in South Africa.

This photograph has recently reached us from Catania portraying the seconded researchers Joanna Jasinska (UNIWARSAW) and Benjamin Gidron (COMAS) along with staff members of the University of Catania. During the secondment the FAB-MOVE partners are involved in discussing and studying the issue of social enterpreneurship in Poland, Italy and Israel.

FAB-MOVE academic partners from Italy met at the University of Catania on 29th April. The teams of Giulio Citroni (UNICAL) and Mara Benadusi (UNICT) discussed the upcoming country report on "Social Entrepreneurship in Italy".

Simone Baglioni, Professor of Politics from Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU), has started his secondment to the Impact Hub Syracuse in Italy. Here he is participating in the "Presentation of the National Statistical Dossier on Immigration" on 17th March at the Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Catania.

Danielle Gluns, research assistant at Muenster University and currently seconded to FAB-MOVE partner Gabarage Upcycling Design in Austria, met with representatives of the organisation to discuss social enterprises and Austrian welfare state structures. Gabarage is a highly innovative social enterprise combining the idea of ecological sustainability with efforts to (re-)integrate people in the labour market.

We are happy to announce that on 2nd February, Benedikt Pahl, researcher and PhD student from Muenster University started his secondment to the University of San Andrés (UdeSA) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He will stay there for two months and collaborate with our FAB-MOVE partners from UdeSA to conduct research on social enterprises, their contextual embeddedness and factors for their success in Argentina.